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Two: diplomatic
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First light.
Training field.
No Adam.
Teela wasn't surprised – she hadn't expected him to show up in the first place, let alone after their sort-of argument – but his absence left another bitter stone in the pit of her stomach.
She was tired of being disappointed by her best friend. Why couldn't he just do the right thing these days? He'd turned sixteen and promptly become a failure.
Maybe this tour would be a good thing. If nothing else, it would relieve Adam of the burden of pretending he'd love to fight, if only Cringer hadn't gotten a paw stuck in the library bookshelf right when the alarm sounded, etcetera.
And she would welcome some distance between them.
Instead of swords, she worked with her staff against the battle orbs for an hour, then bathed quickly and changed into her armor for her meeting with the queen.
The workout had settled her mood, at least. She wasn't happy, not by a long shot, but she was prepared to be a calm, professional Captain of the Royal Guard. Adam's failures weren't going to drag her down.
Queen Marlena received her immediately, standing from the table where she'd been writing and walking towards her as Teela entered the royal apartments. Like most of the palace, evidence of reconstruction was everywhere; the grand window, for example, was half boarded over, and the scent of new lumber and stone dust was thick. "Teela, dear, thank you for coming."
Teela bowed. Ha! So much better than a curtsy. "Of course, Your Majesty."
Marlena smiled at her warmly, studying her for a moment. It was far too motherly an appraisal to make Teela nervous. "We missed you at breakfast. You aren't feeling ill?"
Teela and her father took most of their meals with the royal family – a privilege reserved for the king's Man-At-Arms and others in the inner circle.
"No, I'm fine," Teela said. Difficult to attend breakfast when you were sort-of avoiding two of the people there. She deployed her usual excuse: "I was training."
The queen's motherly expression didn't alter. "I'll have something brought up while we talk, then. You have a busy day ahead."
"Thank you, ma'am," Teela said, not faking her gratitude. She was starving; a few ration biscuits while doing up her hair didn't cut it.
Marlena dispatched a servant to the kitchens, then took a seat at her writing table again, gracefully settling her skirts as she did so. "There. That should only take a minute. Please sit, Teela."
There was an empty chair across the table from the queen. Teela sat. She didn't have any skirts to settle, thank goodness.
"Did you have fun last night?" the queen asked, taking up her pen and beginning where she'd left off. It wasn't a letter, but some sort of official document, to judge from the heading. Among other duties, the Queen of Eternia was responsible for the running of the palace; right now that included rebuilding what Serpos had destroyed, so she was a busy woman. "I noticed you disappeared rather early."
"I did," Teela admitted. "Patrolling sounded like the most fun I could have."
Marlena signed the document with a royal flourish. Her eyes flicked up to meet and hold Teela's. There was a hardness in their depths that belied her soft-spoken manner, and Teela suddenly remembered that Queen Marlena was no stranger to combat herself. "More fun than arguing with my son, I would imagine."
Teela cleared her throat, knowing she was turning red and hating it – almost as much as she hated the guilt rising along with the flush. "Um. Yes, Your Majesty."
"Prince Adam's duties will be increasing," the queen said, voice still mild, returning her attention to the paper. She folded it in neat, crisp lines. "He'll be making a diplomatic tour in the King's name."
"I know," Teela said. "Uh, that is – Adam told me last night. Before the, um. Argument. He said he'll be gone for months."
Marlena affixed her seal to the folded paper and set it aside. "Yes, several months, most likely. You'll be joining him."
Caught entirely by surprise, Teela blurted, "What?" before she could remember that it was bad etiquette to exclaim, in total disbelief, to the queen's face.
The hard glint returned to the queen's eyes. "You'll be in charge of security for the entire tour."
Teela opened her mouth, then shut it again. She didn't know what she wanted to say. Luckily, she was saved by the return of the queen's servant, bearing a tray of food. The man set the tray on the table, bowed, and took the sealed document when Marlena gestured to it.
"And close the door, thank you," Marlena said, earning another bow. She sat with her hands in her lap, calmly regarding Teela, until the door to the room clicked softly shut. "Now. Where were we, dear?"
Pulling herself together as best she could, Teela said, "It's – it's a big change, Your Majesty."
"And quite an honor," Marlena said gently. "Randor and I think very highly of you, Captain."
"Thank you," Teela said. She shifted in her chair, glancing down at her lap and then back up. "But… I have duties here, and with the Masters –"
"You'll be relieved of those, of course, until your return. I promise that you'll be able to pick up exactly where you left off." The queen paused thoughtfully, a small smile in the corners of her eyes. "Though a promotion would probably be in order."
Oh no. Teela was not going to be bribed with a promotion.
Although…
No. She took a sugared pastry from the tray and popped it into her mouth before she could cram her foot in there instead, and made a noncommittal noise while she tried to figure out a better response.
The smile spread to the rest of Marlena's face.
Teela swallowed, then looked away, feeling all of two years old. But that was ridiculous. She was a Captain of the Royal Guard and a Master of the Universe. She could face her queen. And she did, drawing together what was left of her professional façade. "Your Majesty, I don't know if I'm the right person for this position."
"You're the only person," the queen said, firm and swift. "That was the sole condition I demanded of Randor: that you be the one to accompany Adam."
But I don't want to babysit that coward! It was on the tip of her tongue, so she grabbed another pastry and chewed until the urge passed. Thank the Elders for that tray of food. "I'm very honored, I'm just wondering… Why?"
"Adam needs to prove that he will be a good king. This will give him that chance." She paused, then surprised Teela all over again by reaching across the table, beckoning for her hands. Confused, Teela obligingly put her hands in Marlena's; the queen disregarded the sugar stickiness on her fingertips, clasping them as if…
…as if Teela was her daughter, and not the warrior who kept insulting her son.
Teela swallowed again. The guilt, lodged hard in her throat, made it difficult.
"And you'll forgive me my meddling," Queen Marlena said quietly, her kind smile gone wistful, "but it would be the perfect time for the two of you to mend things, away from the court."
"Your Majesty," Teela said, helpless.
"Please, Teela," the queen said, squeezing her hands, eyes searching. "No one can be king alone. Adam needs a true friend. He needs you."
Ancients, she'd thought the guilt was bad before. Teela bit her lip and looked away, every snide comment, every disgusted look, every scornful thought she'd had of Adam racing through her mind.
But it had all been the truth. He deserved all of it.
The anger roared up out of nowhere, setting her heart to pounding, nearly snatching the breath from her. She was furious with Adam for putting her here. She was furious with the queen for asking this of her.
"I… I promise to keep him safe," she managed.
It was part of the Guards' oath, anyway.
Queen Marlena squeezed her hands one more time, then released them. If she knew how Teela was feeling, she didn't show it.
"Your orders will be forthcoming," she said, warm as ever. She picked up her pen and held it, poised, over a fresh sheet of paper. "Until then, this matter is confidential."
Taking the chance that the conversation was over, Teela stood and bowed. "Yes, Your Majesty."
"Oh, Teela – take some of this with you," the queen added, waving a hand at the tray. "You hardly ate anything."
Anger tended to kill her appetite, but she put on a smile and did as requested. Once outside, she tossed her fistful of pastries and fruit into the nearest shrubbery, then dusted off her hands.
She made a beeline for her father's workshop.
If she was going to be removed from her duties and sent away for several months, King Randor would have asked his Man-at-Arms first. That meant her father had agreed. And that meant she had a few things to say to him.
None of the Masters were hanging around the workshop when she got there. Good; she didn't want them there to be reasonable or take her father's side.
Adam wasn't there, either.
Teela wasn't sure she was pleased about that.
Her father was at one of the workbenches, head bent over a deconstructed blaster. It wasn't part of his job to make repairs on faulty equipment, but he liked to do it, and no one in the Guard was ever foolish enough to gainsay him. His welding visor was down, and electricity was sparking from his tools.
"Father!" she said loudly.
He glanced up, eyes hidden behind the dark lenses, then refocused on his work. "Good morning, Teela."
She took a step closer, hands clenching into fists at her sides. "Did you know?"
He laid one tool aside and picked up another. "About what?"
The last frayed lines of her self-control snapped. She slammed her palm onto the scarred surface of the workbench, hard enough to make the smaller bits and pieces shake and shudder. "Stop pretending!"
Father wasn't impressed. He never was; he considered anger a weakness in a soldier. He sat back and lifted his visor to look her in the eyes, so cool and calm that her fury spiraled higher in response.
"If you mean the diplomatic tour," he said in a level voice, "then yes, I did know. The king approached me yesterday. I intended to tell you last night. And this morning, if you'd have come to breakfast."
She remembered seeing him in the crowd, remembered deliberately avoiding him. It made her waver for a moment, but she was still furious. She crossed her arms over her chest. "And you agreed? You thought I'd just love to be the prince's babysitter for an entire year?"
"A few months. And bodyguard and babysitter are very different things," Father said.
So reasonable. So logical. So infuriating.
"Not when he runs away like –"
"Teela," he said, voice sharp. "Don't speak ill of your future king."
She barked a laugh. "Some king! Everyone knows he's a coward."
"Adam is not a coward, regardless of what people say – and I wish you wouldn't. But that perception is why he needs this tour," Father said. He was frowning at her now, disapproval pulling down the ends of his mustache and furrowing his brow. "He will be king, and if he can't prove his abilities on the battlefield –"
"He hasn't got any," she said, not quite under her breath.
Father gave her a warning look, but continued: "He'll need to show people that he can keep the peace in other ways. It's a good plan, Teela; Adam's a natural diplomat. The king is trying to do right by his son."
She threw up her hands. "And you're so busy helping him that you're ruining your daughter's career!"
Father made an impatient, exasperated noise. "This is going to help your career, which you'd realize if you stopped to think rationally about it." It was a dismissal, and it stung. He lowered the visor again and turned away from her. "And with any luck, it'll help you remember why you two were always such good friends."
"Ugh! Why does everyone care if we're friends?" Teela demanded, again feeling like a small child. It didn't improve with repetition.
" 'Everyone'?" he asked the blaster.
"You and the queen."
Father shrugged. Sparks flew, reflecting back in his visor. "Perhaps Marlena and I are simply seeing a larger picture than you are, Teela."
She narrowed her eyes, watching him closely, but what little she could see of his face remained impassive. Even through the veil of her anger, she was suspicious. It made sense for motherly, warm-hearted Queen Marlena to fuss over the state of a friendship. It made much less sense for a no-nonsense soldier like Father to do the same.
A feeling nagged at her, one she'd often had lately when her father stuck up for Adam: that there was something hanging just out of her reach, just beyond the edge of her vision, and if she could only move a little faster, she could catch it.
"Larger picture" indeed.
She opened her mouth to press the argument further – then closed it when an alarm began blaring.
Father immediately abandoned the blaster, rising and starting at a run for the Wind Raiders. "Skeletor."
Teela was hard on his heels. A fight with Skeletor and his warriors sounded like the perfect thing right now, especially because Bonehead hadn't had the courtesy to wait longer than a week past the final defeat of the Snakemen. Maybe he thought he could catch them napping. Well, he was in for a nasty surprise on that front. "Didn't waste any time, did he?"
Her father only grunted in reply. Then he said, "The Sorceress says He-Man is already at Castle Grayskull."
A really nasty surprise. She grinned. Playing clean-up for He-Man was okay too. "That's lucky."
Another grunt.
Many of the other Masters were already at the Wind Raiders. Teela hopped in beside Ram Man, who clapped her on the shoulder enthusiastically.
She knew what she was going to see, but she still looked across the courtyard as they took off, unable to stop the faint flicker of hope.
There was no sign of Adam.